American Airlines declares 1st dividend since 1980 as profit rises

American Airlines Group Inc said on Thursday it will pay its first dividend since 1980 and buy back stock as it reported higher second-quarter earnings.

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American, the largest airline by traffic, formed from the late-2013 merger of US Airways and AMR Corp, declared a dividend of 10 cents a share for shareholders of record Aug. 4. American also said it planned a $1 billion share repurchase program and would make additional pension contributions.

The carrier reported net income rose to $864 million, or $1.17 a diluted share, from $220 million, or 79 cents a share, a year earlier, when the company was not merged.

On a combined basis, American said net profit excluding charges was $1.5 billion, compared with $681 million for the year-earlier period. (